Documents obtained by the Guardian
reveal that last summer’s riots in England provided a major impetus to
Home Office research into new-generation riot control technology,
ranging from the Dip to even more curious weaponry described by Cast
technicians as “skunk oil”.

The November briefing, The Development of New Less Lethal Technologies,
suggests that the Dips would be loaded into guns used to fire the
existing generation of plastic bullets. They would be intended to be
accurate at a range of up to 65 metres.

It is understood that the Dip, which was originally supposed to have
been introduced in 2010, would be loaded with CS gas, pepper spray or
another irritant.

Other parts of the briefing, released under the Freedom of Information
Act, refer to a need in the short term by police to develop “counter
laser dazzle” technology to protect officers from being dazzled by
people using lasers like those used in recent Greek riots.

Large sections of the briefing were redacted by the Home Office,
which designated them as “commercially sensitive”. However, the Guardian
understands that the “less lethal” technology discussed included heat
rays and sound weapons. One weapon that particularly interested police
officers was something Cast technicians referred to as “skunk oil”.

The system would involve pellets containing foul-smelling liquids
being fired from weapons similar to paintball guns. Such would be the
smell that individuals hit by the pellets would want to go home to
change their clothes, while associates would be reluctant to stay close
to them.

The Guardian has also obtained figures illustrating the extent of
recent spending by police forces around the country on the existing
generation of plastic bullets, now referred to as attenuating energy
projectiles (AEPs).
Some forces appear to have decided to considerably boost their
stocks. Leicestershire constabulary spent £19,630 buying AEPs in
2010-11, doubling its spending on the previous year. So far in 2011-12
it has spent more than £10,000. Even a relatively small force, Avon and
Somerset, which faced serious disorder in Bristol last year during the
English riots and on a previous occasion amid anger over a controversial
Tesco store, has spent more than £70,000 in the last three years. It
also currently possesses 28 AEP launchers. That is 16 more than the
larger West Midlands police, which still nevertheless spend more than
£53,000 stocking up on AEPs in the last three years.

Gloucestershire police, whose territory was the scene of one of the
more surprising outbreaks of rioting last summer, decided to
considerably boost its AEP stocks last year. It spent £32,060 doing so,
more than double its combined spending in 2009 and 2010. Elsewhere,
Greater Manchester said it had sufficient supplies last year after
spending more than £76,000 in the previous two years, while
Nottinghamshire has spent £74,000 in the past three years.

A number of forces, including Merseyside and West Yorkshire, declined
to provide information. Merseyside used the Home Office’s claim that
terrorism remains a “substantial” threat as a reason for not providing
the information.

Another freedom of information
request from the Guardian found that the Home Office supplied £4.4m
worth of AEPs between 2007 and March last year to police forces across
England and Wales. The projectiles are supplied to the Home Office by
the Ministry of Defence for police use.

While the Home Office invoiced forces for £700,000 worth in 2007-08,
this rose to £1.2m in each of the following years and to £1.3m in
2010-11.

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